Catcher&#39;s glove or mitt.



No. 805,538. PATBNTBDNOV.28,1905. E. J. GOLDSMITH.

GATCHERS GLOVE OR MITT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 14, 1903.

[N VEN T0 R.

g fmzz A TTOR/VE Y.

EDGAR J. GOLDSMITH, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

CATCHE'RS GLOVE OR MITT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 28, 1905.

Application filed May 14,1903. Serial No. 157,063.

To (all whmn it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDGAR J. GOLDSMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Catchers Gloves or Mitts, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is applicable to either gloves or mitts used by catchers in games of baseball and the like.

The word glove as hereinafter employed is to be understood to refer to a mitt as well as to a glove that is padded.

One of the principal objects of my invention isto provide a new and advantageous construction of the glove by which the glove in its manufacture is readily filled with suitable padding and later, after having been used until the padding has become too hard or has been disarranged, can be readily opened for working over or readjusting the padding in the glove or when necessary for removing the old padding and substituting new padding in its stead.

The several features of my construction and the various advantages resulting from their use conjointly or otherwise will be apparent from the following description and claim.

In the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a glove embodying my invention, the palm of the glove being toward the spectator. The glove is ready for use. Fig. 2 is a transverse section of a portion of the glove, taken in the plane of the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 1, thus showing the arrangement of the parts when the said opening of the glove for introducing, removing, or working the padding is closed. Fig. 3 shows in perspective the same glove seen from the same point of view as in Fig. 1. In-this figure the glove is shown as opened, so as to admit of introducing the padding or of removing it or so as to reach the padding for any desired purpose.

I will now proceed to describe my invention in detail.

The glove has a palm portion A and a back portion B. A-portion only of the latter is shownviz., in Fig. 2. The usual pocket C for the hand of the wearerand provided with or without finger-recesses is attached to the back part B. The lower end part of the flap, which'contributes to form this pocket, is shown in Fig. 1.

That portion D of the glove which carries the first, second, third, and fourth fingers may or may not be connected to the thumb portion E; but it is preferably connectedviz., at adjacent sides of the thumb and finger portionsviz., along at the line F F and also at the outer extremities of such portions-to wit, at and near the peripheral or outer edge of the gloveviz., at the line G G. It is found in practice that such connection enables better work to be done with the glove and the better protects the hand of the catcher.

In constructing the glove I leave it open at its lower portion for a sufiicient distance. Thus 1 form in this a slit or opening J, whose ends are respectively at I I. I provide a cover or flap K, adapted to cover this slit. This flap K may be a separate piece duly sewed to the glove by sewing at one of its long edges and preferably also at its ends. For instance, it may be in one with the edge strip K ,-which is continued around the glove and connects the palm-cover to the back-cover. I much prefer the latter construction for obvious reasons. This construction is shown in the drawings.

I secure the two edges of the glove together, preferably by means I will now describe.

At one side of the slit or opening I secure a secondary or lacing flap M, and at the other side of the slit or opening I secure a secondary or lacing flap N. These lacing-flaps are opposite one another. The lacing-flap M is secured, preferably, at K to the glov,e-viz., at the same line of stitching which secures the slit-cover flap K to the part A Thus an amount of stitching is here economized. The other lacing-flap is secured to the part B by stitching at the line N Each lacing-flap is loopedthat is to say, the lacing-flap is bent or folded back on itselfand one edge is sewed to the flap at the line T. This edge is preferably folded in toward the glove, as shown, rather than outwardly. Thus this preferred arrangement hides the raw (formerly free) edge of the lacing-flap. At intervals in the free edge of each loop of each lacing-flap I make lacing-holes P. I provide a lacing-cord S. It may be noted that an ordinary shoelace is a very efiicient cord.

The mode in which I operate my invention is as follows: The slit J being open, I fill the glove with the requisite padding W and dispose it within the glove in the desired manner. I then lay or bring the flap K down over the end of the padding W, substantially as shown in Fig. 2. Next I lace together the lacing-flaps M and N by means of a lacingcord S. This cord is passed through a hole P, then along inside of the loop to the next hole P, then across and into the opposite hole Pof the loop of the opposite lacing-flap, then along through the latter loop to the next hole P. It is then passed through this hole P and then carried across to the hole P opposite and located in the opposite lacing-flap, and so on, repeating these operations until the Whole of the edge of one lacing-flap is laced to the edge of the other lacing-flap. The cord is drawn so as to closely lace these flaps together. The cord S is then duly tied, so as not to slip. The

operation is now completed. To open the slit, the flaps are unlaced by withdrawing the cord S. Then the padding can be reached and worked loose or be in any way readjusted and rearranged or can be withdrawn, and fresh padding can be inserted and properly disposed. The slit is then closed, the cover-flap readjusted to place, and the lacing-flaps are laced together in the manner aforesaid.

The aforedescribed manner of lacing is not only very eflicient, but exceedingly simple.

In my arrangement the cover-flap, which extends around and over the opening, and the two lacing-flaps disposed as shown makes this opening less liable to spread and aifords a better closing means to prevent the inside filling (padding) from protruding through the opening. The disposition of the parts also well conceals the padding from view.

The slit and its cover-flap and the lacingflaps are to be located in the lower portion of the glove; but the particular location may be varied.

The cover-flap may be a separate piece, not connected to the glove. After the stuifing has been introduced into the glove it will be located in the slit and against the stuffing and then the lacing together of the lacing-flaps done. When the operation is completed, the appearance of the glove will be the same as when the strip is permanently connected at some point to the glove. The construction where the strip is primarily connected to the glove is obviously the preferable one.

What I claim as new and of my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

A catchers glove comprising a front or palm piece, a back piece, an edge strip united to said pieces and connecting them together so as to form a space to receive the padding, said edge strip being detached from the back piece at the rear of the glove, thus forming an opening, lacing-flaps secured to the glove by the same means that secures the edge strip to the front and rear pieces, said lacing-flaps being a little longer than the length of the opening and having their free edges turned up and secured to their body portions so as to form loops and means for connecting the looped portions together at a point equidistant from the edges of the edge strip.

EDGAR J. GOLDSMITH.

Attest:

W. J. SoHNs, GEO. W. ORARY. 

